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Fox Kids
Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) and its affiliated stations, it was later owned by Fox Family Worldwide. Fox Kids originated as a programming block that aired on the Fox network from September 8, 1990 to September 7, 2002. The block aired on Saturday mornings throughout its existence (Sunday mornings in Canada), with an additional block on Monday through Friday afternoons airing until January 2002. Fox Kids is the only form of daytime television programming, outside of sports, aired by the Fox network to date. Following then-Fox parent News Corporation's sale of Fox Kids Worldwide to The Walt Disney Company in July 2001, Fox put the remaining Saturday morning timeslot up for bidding, with 4Kids Entertainment winning and securing the rights to program that period. The Fox Kids block continued to air in repeats until September 7, 2002, and was replaced the following week (on September 14) by the 4Kids-programmed FoxBox. Outside the United States, the first Fox Kids-branded television channel launched on October 1, 1995, on Foxtel in Australia. Beginning in 2004, the international and Latin American channels were gradually relaunched under the Jetix brand following Disney's acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide. History According to James B. Stewart's book DisneyWar, Fox Kids' history is intertwined with that of the syndicated children's program block The Disney Afternoon. DuckTales, the series that served as the launching pad for The Disney Afternoon, premiered in syndication in September 1987, airing on Fox's owned-and-operated stations as well as various Fox affiliates in many markets. This may have been due to the fact that the Walt Disney Company's chief operating officer at the time, Michael Eisner, and his then-Fox counterpart, Barry Diller, had worked together at ABC and at Paramount Pictures. In 1988, Disney purchased independent television station KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, changing its call letters to KCAL-TV the next year. The station's new owners wanted DuckTales to be shown on KCAL, effectively taking the local television rights to the animated series away from Fox-owned KTTV. Furious at the breach of contract, Diller pulled DuckTales from all of Fox's other owned-and-operated stations in the fall of 1989. Diller also encouraged the network's affiliates to do the same, though most did not initially. As Disney went forward in developing The Disney Afternoon, Fox (whose schedule at the time was limited to prime time programming on Saturday and Sunday nights) began the process of launching its own children's programming lineup. Fox Kids was launched on September 8, 1990, as the Fox Children's Network, a joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company and its affiliates. Originally headed by division president Margaret Loesch, its programming aired for 30 minutes per day on Monday through Fridays, and for 3 hours on Saturday mornings. In September 1991, the block was rebranded as the Fox Kids Network, with its programming expanding to 90 minutes on weekdays and 4 hours on Saturday mornings. The weekday editions of the block grew to 3 hours the following year. Scheduling By fall of 1992, Fox Kids increased its schedule to 3 hours on Monday through Fridays, airing usually from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM local time (making Fox the first network to air programming in the 4:00 p.m. hour since 1986) , and 4 hours on Saturdays from 8:00 AM to noon Eastern and Pacific Time (7:00 AM to 11:00 AM Central and Mountain). Many stations split the weekday lineup programming into a one-hour block in the morning and a two-hour block in the afternoon (though this varied slightly in some markets), when network programs intertwined with syndicated children's lineups. Other stations aired all three hours combined in the afternoon due to their carriage of local morning newscasts and/or syndicated talk shows; stations that aired such programming in this case had dropped children's programs acquired via the syndication market, moving them to other "independent" stations. Very few Fox stations aired all three hours of the weekday block in the morning. In 1992, Fox Kids began holding a "TV Takeover" event on Thanksgiving afternoon. Broadcasting ambiguities When Fox Kids launched, virtually all of Fox's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates carried the block, with few (if any) declining to carry it. The first Fox station to drop the block was Miami affiliate WSVN, the network's first station to maintain a news-intensive format, in 1993 (the station had been a Fox affiliate since January 1989 as a result of NBC purchasing and moving its programming to longtime CBS affiliate WTVJ in a three-station ownership and affiliation swap in the Miami market). The following year, in May 1994, Fox signed a multi-station affiliation agreement with New World Communications to switch that company's CBS, ABC and NBC affiliates to the network between September 1994, and July 1995, in order to improve its affiliate coverage in certain markets after the National Football League awarded Fox the contract to the National Football Conference television package. Many of the stations owned by New World (which later merged with Fox's then-parent company News Corporation in July 1996 ) declined to carry the block in order to air syndicated programs aimed at older audiences or local newscasts. In certain cities with an independent station, or beginning with the launches of those networks in January 1995, affiliates of UPN and The WB, Fox contracted the Fox Kids block to air on one of these stations if a Fox owned-and-operated station or affiliate chose not to carry it. In some cases, Fox Kids would be carried on the same station as one of its two competing children's blocks, The WB's Kids' WB and UPN's UPN Kids block (the latter of which was replaced in 1999 by Disney's One Too). Between 1995 and early 1996, Fox acquired three former ABC-affiliated stations (WHBQ-TV/Memphis, KTVI/St. Louis, and WGHP/High Point). Meanwhile, SF Broadcasting (a joint venture between Savoy Pictures and Fox) acquired three former NBC affiliates and one ABC affiliate during the summer of 1994 (which were later sold to Emmis Communications in 1996). Those stations all aired early evening local newscasts, but wanted to continue to run general entertainment syndicated programming to lead into their news programs instead of cartoons; these stations opted to run Fox Kids one hour early, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. WGHP stopped airing the block in March 1996 after the station agreed to move it to WBFX (which aired the block for the remainder of its run). In August 1995, religious independent station KNLC assumed the rights to Fox Kids from KDNL-TV (which became an ABC affiliate); however, due to the station's decision to air public service messages from its owner's ministry about controversial topics in lieu of local advertisements, Fox pulled the block from KNLC in mid-1996. As a result, KTVI became the only Fox station that was involved in the network's 1994 deal with New World Communications to carry the block. Much of the Fox Kids lineup's early programming was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, calling Fox Children's Network a "one-stop shop," essentially pulling out of the children's syndication market by signing a $100-million deal with Fox in May 1991. This meant they moved all their existing programming to Fox Kids. Two of Fox Kids' most popular programs, Animaniacs (following a heated dispute with Fox after it ceded the program's timeslot to carry Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which became one of the block's highest-rated programs when it debuted in 1993) and Batman: The Animated Series, moved to The WB after that network launched in January 1995. Both Animaniacs and Batman served as the linchpin of The WB's new children's block, Kids' WB, when it launched in September of that year (Tiny Toon Adventures, another early Fox Kids program that Warner Bros. produced and also aired on Kids' WB in reruns, had already ended its run). In 1996, after having established a "strategic alliance" with Fox, Saban Entertainment merged with Fox Children's Network to form a new company, Fox Kids Networks Worldwide, with aims to become a public company and pursue international expansion. In 1997, the venture was renamed Fox Family Worldwide after it acquired International Family Entertainment—owner of the cable network The Family Channel, seeking a cable outlet for the Fox Kids programs to compete with services such as Cartoon Network (also owned by Warner Bros.) and Nickelodeon. In 1998, Fox bought out its affiliates' interest in Fox Kids as part of a deal to help pay for the network's NFL package. The Fox Kids weekday block was reduced to two hours, and in an effort to help its affiliates comply with the recently implemented educational programming mandates defined by the Children's Television Act, reruns of former PBS series The Magic School Bus were added to the lineup. In 2000, affiliates were given the option of pushing the block up one hour to air from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM rather than 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM In the six or so markets where a Fox affiliate carried Fox Kids and carried an early evening newscast at 5:00 PM (such as St. Louis and New Orleans), the station was already running the block an hour early by 1996. Some affiliates (such as WLUK-TV) would tape delay the block to air between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM, one of the lowest-rated time periods on U.S. television (and when virtually all children 5 years of age and older are at school). A few only aired The Magic School Bus in this sort of graveyard slot as an act of malicious compliance with the Children's Television Act. Fox Kids fought vehemently against the E/I rule during its development. End of Fox Kids By 2001, members of the Fox affiliate board had felt they were on much more even footing with the "Big Three" networks and wanted to take back the time allocated to the Fox Kids programming blocks to air their own programming. Saturday mornings, long the only province of children's programming, had become a liability as the other networks started to extend their weekday morning news programs to weekends. Fox Kids, which had been the top-rated children's program block among the major networks since 1992, had been overtaken in the ratings by ABC's One Saturday Morning block in 1998, then by Kids' WB a year later with the stronger animation block backed by Warner Bros. that included shows such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!. ABC and UPN aired mostly comedy-based cartoons at this time, with the exception of live-action teen-oriented sitcoms Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens (both originated on Disney Channel as part of what would be a gradual takeover of ABC's Saturday morning lineup by the cable channel's programming), while CBS aired E/I compliant preschool programming from Nick Jr., and NBC was airing teen-oriented sitcoms (later to be replaced the following year by E/I-compliant programming sourced from Discovery Kids), splintering the audience. The added factor of Nickelodeon's aggressive schedule that outrated all of the broadcast networks among children on Saturday mornings left Fox Kids behind, and the programmers could find no way to catch up and stand out in this crowded field. Fox Family, despite good reviews, had a 35% audience decline, which led to Fox Kids Worldwide and Fox Family Worldwide (along with Saban Entertainment) being sold to The Walt Disney Company in 2001. After Fox Family Worldwide was sold to The Walt Disney Company in July 2001, Fox Kids was placed under the oversight of Fox Television Entertainment and moved its programming operations to Fox's headquarters on the 20th Century Fox studio lot; Fox discontinued daytime children's programming in December 2001, giving the time back to its affiliates. In addition, from September 2001 until the weekday block was discontinued, network flagship stations WNYW and KTTV deferred it to their UPN-affiliated sister stations while continuing to air the block on Saturday mornings. Fox put its children's programming block up for bidding, and 4Kids Entertainment, then-producers of the English dub of Pokémon, purchased the remaining four-hour Saturday time period. Fox Kids maintained a Saturday morning-only schedule until September 7, 2002, a week before it gave the time to 4Kids Entertainment. Fox Kids was replaced by the 4Kids Entertainment-produced FoxBox on September 14, 2002. The block, renamed 4Kids TV on January 22, 2005, ran until December 27, 2008, marking Fox's complete withdrawal from children's programming. It was not until 2014 that Fox would reverse course and return to carrying children's programming with the launch of a E/I programming block called Xploration Station, which is produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions. After Fox Kids While Fox Kids ended its existence on broadcast television in the United States, Disney instituted a two-hour morning lineup on its newly acquired ABC Family cable channel (known as the "ABC Family Action Block") that was programmed similarly to Fox Kids and featured content originated on the block. Internationally, Disney temporarily retained the Fox Kids brand for the international channels in Europe, Israel and Latin America acquired through the purchase of Fox Kids Worldwide (which became ABC Family Worldwide after the sale was completed). In 2004, Disney began branding its action and adventure programming from the Fox Kids library as Jetix; the new name was first used in the United States on the ABC Family morning block and a new prime-time lineup on Toon Disney. The Fox Kids brand name is being used again for the web series Fox Kids Movie Challenge, produced by 20th Century Fox for the Fox Family Entertainment YouTube channel since its pending acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2018. Programming Year 1 (1990-1991) Year 1 consisted of three hours of programming every Saturday, branded as the Fox Children's Network. * Attack of the Killer Tomatoes * Bobby's World * Fox's Fun House (beginning with season 3) * Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates * Fox's World * Piggsburg Pigs! * Tom & Jerry Kids * Zazoo U (Fall 1990 only) Specials * Swamp Thing (October 1990, April-May 1991 only) Year 2 (1991-1992) Year 2 expanded Saturday morning to four hours and added 90 minutes of programming Monday through Friday. It also re-branded the programming block as the Fox Kids Network. * Attack of the Killer Tomatoes * Beetlejuice (beginning with season 4) * Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures (beginning with season 2) * Bobby's World * Little Shop * Muppet Babies (reruns only) * Taz-Mania * Tom & Jerry Kids Specials * Little Dracula (Fall 1991 only) * Defenders of Dynatron City (pilot only; February 1992) Year 3 (1992-1993) Year 3 expanded Monday through Friday programming to two and a half and eventually three hours. * Alvin and the Chipmunks (reruns only) * Batman: The Animated Series * Beetlejuice (reruns only) * Bobby's World * Dog City * Eek! The Cat * George of the Jungle (reruns only; Fall 1992 only) * Merrie Melodies (reruns only) * Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (reruns only; November 1992) * Muppet Babies (reruns only) * Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire * Taz-Mania * The Plucky Duck Show (Fall 1992 only) * Tiny Toon Adventures (beginning with season 3) * Tom & Jerry Kids * X-Men Specials * Ghostwriter (pilot only; October 1992) * Solarman (pilot only; October 1992) * The Incredible Crash Dummies (May 1993) Year 4 (1993-1994) * Animaniacs * Batman: The Animated Series * Bobby's World * Dog City * Droopy, Master Detective * Eek! The Cat / The Terrible Thunderlizards / Eek! and The Terrible Thunderlizards * Merrie Melodies (reruns only) * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers * Taz-Mania * Tiny Toon Adventures (reruns only) * Tom & Jerry Kids * Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (Spring 1994 premiere) * X-Men (Spring 1994 premiere) Specials * Red Planet (May 1994 only) * Thunderbirds (edited reruns of 1960s TV series; Summer 1994 only) * Trollies Christmas Sing-Along ("Cool Yule", December 1993) Year 5 (1994-1995) * Animaniacs * Batman: The Animated Series * Bobby's World * Dog City (Fall 1994 only) * Droopy, Master Detective (Fall 1994 only) * Eek! Stravaganza ** Eek! The Cat ** The Terrible Thunderlizards * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers * Spider-Man * Taz-Mania * Tiny Toon Adventures (reruns only) * The Fox Cubhouse: ** Jim Henson's Animal Show ** Johnson and Friends ** Rimba's Island * The Tick * Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? * X-Men Specials * A.J.'s Time Travelers (December 1994 only) * Christopher the Christmas Tree ("Cool Yule", December 1994) * Count DeClues' Mystery Castle (October 1994) * Grunt & Punt * Life with Louie (pilot only; December 1994) * Talkin' It Out (May 1995) Year 6 (1995-1996) * Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (reruns only; Spring 1996 only) * Batman: The Animated Series / The Adventures of Batman & Robin * Bobby's World * Casper (Spring 1996 premiere) * Cave Party * Eek! Stravaganza: ** Eek! The Cat ** Klutter! ** The Terrible Thunderlizards * Goosebumps * Life with Louie * Masked Rider * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers / Power Rangers Zeo * Spider-Man * Taz-Mania * The Fox Cubhouse: ** Budgie the Little Helicopter ** Jim Henson's Animal Show ** Johnson and Friends ** Rimba's Island ** Magic Adventures of Mumfie * The Tick * Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? * X-Men Specials * Sailor Moon (one episode in September 1995 only) * Siegfried & Roy: Masters of the Impossible (February 1996 only) Year 7 (1996-1997) * The Adventures of Batman & Robin * Big Bad Beetleborgs (1996–1997) * Bobby's World * C Bear and Jamal * Casper * Cave Party * Eek! Stravaganza: ** Eek! The Cat ** The Terrible Thunderlizards * Eerie, Indiana (reruns only; Spring 1997 premiere) * Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates (Fall 1996 only) * Goosebumps * Life with Louie * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Power Rangers Zeo / Power Rangers Turbo * Puyo Puyo (fall 1997 premiere) * Round the Twist (reruns only; Summer 1997 only) * Spider-Man * The Tick (Fall 1996 only) * Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? * X-Men Specials * The Balloonatiks: Christmas Without a Claus ("Cool Yule", December 1996) Year 8 (1997-1998) * The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police * Beetleborgs Metallix * Bobby's World * C Bear and Jamal (reruns only) * Casper * Cave Party (spring 1997 only) * Eek! Stravaganza: (summer 1998 only) ** Eek! The Cat ** The Terrible Thunderlizards * Eerie, Indiana / Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension (Spring 1998 premiere) * Life with Louie * Mowgli: The New Adventures of the Jungle Book (Spring 1998 only) * Ned's Newt (Spring 1998 premiere) * Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation * Power Rangers Turbo / Power Rangers in Space * Puyo Puyo * Save the Day (summer 1997 only) * Silver Surfer (Spring 1998 only) * Space Goofs * Spider-Man * Stickin' Around (reruns only) * Toonsylvania (Spring 1998 premiere) * Ultimate Goosebumps * X-Men Specials * Chimp Lips Theater (two pilots only) Year 9 (1998-1999) * Bobby's World (reruns only after the cancellation of the show) * Casper (Fall 1998 only) * Godzilla: The Series * Life with Louie * Mad Jack the Pirate * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Power Rangers in Space / Power Rangers Lost Galaxy * Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog * Ned's Newt * Oggy and the Cockroaches * Puyo Puyo * Save the Day * Space Goofs * Spider-Man * Toonsylvania * The Magic School Bus (reruns only) * The Magician (Spring 1999 only) * The Mr. Potato Head Show * The New Woody Woodpecker Show (Spring 1999 premiere) * The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs * Young Hercules Specials * Donkey Kong Country (reruns only; December 1998 and Summer 1999 only) Year 10 (1999-2000) * Beast Machines: Transformers * Beast Wars: Transformers (reruns only) * Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (Fall 1999 only) * Cybersix (Fall 1999 only) * Digimon * Fanta Babies: The Series (Spring 1999 premiere) * Flint the Time Detective (Spring 2000 premiere) * Godzilla: The Series * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Power Rangers Lost Galaxy / Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue * Monster Rancher (Fall 1999 premiere) * NASCAR Racers * Puyo Puyo * Save the Day (spring 1999 only) * Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century * The Avengers: United They Stand * The Magic School Bus (reruns only) * The New Woody Woodpecker Show * Xyber 9: New Dawn (Fall 1999 only) Specials * Spider-Man Unlimited (October 1999 only) Year 11 (2000-2001) Year 11 saw Monday through Friday programming reduced to two hours. * Action Man * Angela Anaconda (Summer 2000 only) * Beast Machines: Transformers * Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (Spring 2001 only) * Cybersix (Fall 2000 only) * Digimon * Dinozaurs (Fall 2000 only) * Dungeons & Dragons (reruns only; Fall 2000 only) * Escaflowne * Fanta Babies: The Series * Flint the Time Detective * Kong: The Animated Series (reruns only; Summer 2001 only) * Los Luchadores (Spring 2001 premiere) * Monster Rancher * NASCAR Racers * Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue / Power Rangers Time Force * Puyo Puyo (Fall 2000 only) * Spider-Man Unlimited * The Magic School Bus (reruns only) * The New Woody Woodpecker Show * X-Men Year 12 (2001-2002) Year 12 saw the discontinuation of Monday through Friday programming in December 2001 and the discontinuation of all Fox Kids programming in September 2002. * Action Man * Alienators: Evolution Continues * Baby Potter: The Series * Digimon * Fanta Babies: The Series * Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension (Spring 2002 premiere) * Life with Louie * Medabots * Mon Colle Knights (Spring 2002 premiere) * Monster Rancher * Moolah Beach (Fall 2001 only) * Pajamas (fall 2001 premiere) * Power Rangers Time Force / Power Rangers Wild Force * The Magic School Bus (reruns only) * The Ripping Friends * The New Woody Woodpecker Show * Transformers: Robots In Disguise * Who Goes There? Radio In addition to the program block, Fox Kids had its own radio program in the United States, the Fox Kids Radio Countdown. This two-hour broadcast was hosted by Chris Leary of ZDTV and TechTV fame and consisted of contests and gags, with sound effects incorporated throughout the program. It was later renamed as Fox All Access and served primarily as a promotional vehicle for Fox television programs, current artists, and films in its later years, before eventually ending its run in 2012. See also * 4Kids TV – successor children's program block to Fox Kids, running from September 2002 to December 2008, produced by 4Kids Entertainment. * Jetix – action-oriented children's program block on ABC Family and Toon Disney, and international cable channels owned by The Walt Disney Company, operating from 2004 to 2009. Jetix incorporated series from the Saban Entertainment program library. * Vortexx – children's program block produced by Saban Brands for The CW from August 2012 to September 2014. References External links * Archive copies of US Fox Kids website * Retrojunk: The Fox Kids Club: The End of An Era ** Retrojunk: Fox Kids TV Block Category:Television programming blocks Category:Children's television networks Kids Category:Joint ventures Category:Fox Kids Category:Jetix Category:British television networks Category:Irish television networks Category:Dutch television networks Category:French television networks Category:German television networks Category:Italian television networks Category:Danish television networks Category:Hebrew television networks Category:Norwegian television networks Category:Polish television networks Category:Romanian television newtorks Category:Russian television networks Category:Spanish television networks Category:Swedish television networks Category:Czech television networks Category:Slovakian television networks Category:Hungarian television networks Category:Turkish television networks Category:Latin American television networks Category:Mexican television networks Category:Colombian television networks Category:Argentine television networks Category:Venezuelan television networks Category:Brazilian television networks